There came a timid knock at the door, the faint sound carrying up the rooms to reach Twilight's ears. The unicorn perked up, bringing herself out of the book she had indulged in, and smiled. She quickly bookmarked her place, and levitated the novel to the side of her desk before trotting down to answer. She swiftly opened the door to meet, who she suppossed was Fluttershy here for their spot of afternoon tea, only to find something quite different.
"Fluttershy, are you ready for so-" she said methodically before pausing mid-sentence when she realized that the yellow pegasus was not the one who called for her attention. Confused, Twilight looked for her friend, when a frail cough brought her eyes downwards. Before her was a small filly, smile as wide as sunrays, and bright hazel eyes looking up to her with happiness. Twilight blushed sheepishly and put on a smile of her own as she stared at the young pony. She cleared her throat awkwardly, and bent down face-to-face.
"Hello, little filly, are you lost?" she questioned, watching as the pony's eyes met hers.
"Are you Twilight Sparkle?" she answered quietly, meaning that she indeed knew where she was. "I'm ... I'm Chip." She shifted slightly, and Twilight noticed as her smile began to fade with doubt.
"Pleasure to meet you, Chip. I am Twilight." she responded, then looked around. "Where are your parents? Do you need something?"
The young Earth Pony gulped, pushing away a bad memory, before letting her voice crack. "I dunno where they are. I'm orphaned." She sighed, feeling the weight of her words grinding into her, and looked down at the mat she sat on.
Before Twilight could express her sadness to the filly, the pony perked up again with her bright smile as if nothing had happened. "But I do need your help- Er, I mean, I do need something. I wanna..." she paused and bit her lower lip, "I wanna borrow a book."
Twilight blinked, suddenly processing Chip's request. She looked back at the filly after a moment of distant thought, before smiling softly again. "Sure! I wouldn't mind lending out a book. C'mon inside." She tossed her head in in the direction of the main room, beckoning Chip to follow as she trotted ahead.
"Now, what kind of genre would you like? Fantasy? History?" Twilight mused as she began pulling books off shelves with a spell glowing on her horn. Chip looked around at the mountains of books lying around, stacked neatly in their according rows, keeping quiet as the unicorn put the several tomes on a nearby table. "I know that I have a few good mystery novels around here somewhere..." The pony gulped as the room became tense, desperately trying to nag away her conscience and the heaviness in her tired eyes.
Twilight, satisfied with her haul containing several small books befitting a young filly, turned back to Chip. "I think you'll like these, they're old stories from when I was a small mare." she said as the pony came over to the table with her. Quickly, she noticed her small sniffles and the quiet tears running down her face. "Chip, what's wrong?" she asked with empathy, concern flooding over her.
Chip looked up at the unicorn, trying to rub away the stinging stinging in her eyes. She looked at one of the old leather-covered books nearby, unable to even comprehend the symbols etched to it. She took a small, quivering breath. "I... I don't know how... I don't know how to read." she whispered, defeated.
Twilight regarded the filly in sudden sadness, understanding that in a life without a family to provide, it must've been difficult to even speak clearly without true meaning behind the words spoken. She gingerly laid a hoof on Chip's shoulders, and sat deep in thought. It was appalling, by her means at the very least, that somepony so young had no source of learning, or fantasies to set the mind to. The pony grew up only in reality, while Twilight hoarded every myth and legend and old-pony-tales here for herself while others were being deprived of knowledge without her knowing.
Suddenly, an idea sprung up. "Wait here" Twilight whispered, then bounded up the stairs to her own room. Frantically, she pulled out boxes and papers and other odd-end items laying around until she found the item she had been looking for. A small plastic card, with her own young face smiling right back at her through a small picture in the corner. She silently disregarded this and levitated a pen to her side. She sighed, recalling the many usages of the card from her filly days. Slowly, she began to scratch out the large print at the top : CANTERLOT LIBRARY CARD
Minutes later, the lavender unicorn returned to Chip with the card held balanced on her hoof. She smiled broadly at her masterpiece before settling it down in front of the pony. Chip looked up, confused, then back down at the plastic.
"What's this?" she asked, leaning in to get a closer inspection of the product.
"It's a Library Card." Twilight enthusiastically replied before adding, "And you can use it to borrow as many books as you want, as many times as you want!" She peered over the Earth Pony's shoulder, smiling as Chip's confusion only grew.
"But... I can't read. How could I rent the books, when I can't even-"
"You're going to learn, and I'm gonna help. We'll read every book here, if we have to. And you're gonna learn every ABC and 123 as sure as the sunrise!" She was nearly panting, looking for any sign of recognition in the other pony's face as her plans fell into place.
Chip went silent for a brief moment, before a smile rose up in her eyes. She quickly got up on all fours, looking up with excitement at Twilight, whose hope equally matched her own. She glanced at the shelves and novels filled with information and fantasies, and realized her offer.
"You mean it!" she squealed happily. "You can really help me read? All of these books?" She looked back at the card, which now held her every dream and possibility.
Twilight nodded, smiling. "I'm completely willing!" she said as the filly began to bounce with excitement. "Just meet me back here at twelve o'clock tomorrow and we'll begin! It'll be really fun, just you wait!"
Chip thanked Twilight, her new mentor, repeatedly before carefully putting the card between her teeth and bolting out the door and through the streets declaring her prize. Twilight carefully rearranged the books she had set up, with no need to after all, and trotted back up to her room to start a lesson, much to her delight.
